France: the government prepares the ground before the asylum-immigration bill
Elisabeth Borne at the National Assembly in Paris, France, July 6, 2022. REUTERS - BENOIT TESSIER
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
This Tuesday, a debate without a vote will take place in the National Assembly after a declaration by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on the subject of immigration.
The government is seeking support and wants to involve parliamentarians in the construction of the future bill which will be examined in early 2023.
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The text of the new bill is not yet written, insists Matignon, but
the main lines are drawn.
Easier deportation of "
delinquent foreigners
", reform of the asylum system and regularization of certain undocumented workers in sectors in tension are on the program
of the government's asylum-immigration project.
Before presenting it, the executive shows its willingness to work with parliamentarians to feed this text.
And as a sign of goodwill, he announced that a debate on the theme of immigration will be organized in Parliament each year.
“The majority is not cracked this time”
The government wants to prepare the ground for future debates and is seeking support from the parliamentarians of the LR group without losing the support of its left wing.
► To read also: Immigration bill: "It's an unmanageable file, on the right as on the left"
He wants to avoid the setbacks of the previous five-year term.
During the previous legislature, the asylum and immigration law split the majority and caused the departure of several deputies from the group.
This time, the Renaissance parliamentarians are confident.
According to one of them, there is "
no fear that the specter of 2018 will happen again because the majority is not cracked this time, the group has matured and wants to carry a text that works
".
However, the government must find support in the opposition to be able to pass this text without using article 49.3.
Associations skeptical about the creation of a residence permit for jobs in tension
One of the key measures of the future text concerning foreigners in an irregular situation is the creation of a residence permit for so-called "short-term" occupations.
But for the moment, this measure remains unclear because "
we don't even know how many people it may concern
", believes Fanélie Carrey-Conte of the association for the defense of the rights of foreigners, Cimade.
“
We had the impression that there were advances, then setbacks and that the government oscillated between a form of openness, but at the same time, as soon as there was a fear in society, we came back back by saying "
we have to be reassured it will only be a small number of people", she adds.
According to her, the regularizations must be considered “
in a more global way
” because “
today, thousands of undocumented people live in precariousness and that makes no sense
”.
Bchira Ben Nia, at the head of the collective of undocumented 75, is also worried.
"
For us, it's a regression
," she asserts.
And to add: “
We are talking about a one-year card, renewable as long as the job is in tension.
But we don't yet know what jobs are in tension.
However, if the undocumented person is already working in this profession, it is because it is a profession in tension because it was not done by others
”.
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